


A pair of lungs to be lauded

by limeta



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Family, Family Drama, Gen, Platonic Relationships, RIP
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:20:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24776794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/limeta/pseuds/limeta
Summary: Draco Malfoy makes the mistake of asking his grandfather Abraxas Malfoy a question.
Relationships: Abraxas Malfoy/Tom Riddle, Draco Malfoy & Abraxas Malfoy
Comments: 7
Kudos: 85
Collections: Solstice Flashfest





	A pair of lungs to be lauded

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tennesseebedward](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tennesseebedward/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [tennesseebedward](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tennesseebedward/pseuds/tennesseebedward) in the [Solstice_Flashfest](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Solstice_Flashfest) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Draco Malfoy asks his grandfather about his arranged marriage. Abraxas's response gets a little rambly.

Abraxas Malfoy was sitting by the fireplace one evening, just minding his own business. He was old enough to finally realise that getting involved in other people’s garbage lives would be counter-intuitive to self-care. And, what with him being very ill, crotchety, and fading with good looks – self-care was all he had left.

So, imagine his surprise when Draco Malfoy (the good family member – the one that wasn’t as high maintenance as the one family member he did make) stumbled upon him and wanted to converse.

Abraxas Malfoy was a numbers man. He didn’t converse well with anyone so late in the evening. The evenings were meant for introspection and probably doing arithmancy exercises to pinpoint the exact moment he would die. The evenings were for the little things in life.

Not whatever trash fire subject addled Draco.

Draco opened his mouth and Abraxas braced for what was to come. He could see it in the young man’s eyes that nothing good would come of this. He wondered, briefly, what dumb things were plaguing his young mind... on second thought it was better to not know.

Oh no, no Draco had begun. It was too late to stop him now. He was trapped.

’’Grandfather,’’ Draco addressed him properly, like a proper young man with proper thoughts and a proper upbringing that Abraxas liked to think was his doing, but in reality it was Narcissa’s. ’’Can we talk?’’

Abraxas shook in fear. Draco ignored this, or he was so addled with his own thoughts that he did not notice. Either way Abraxas was fucked.

’’Of course,’’ the words were painful in Abraxas’ mouth. ’’What troubles you, Draco?’’

Draco **_sighed_**. Very very very needily. 

Abraxas wished he was dead. Take me now, He challenged Death, you little bitch. If you’re even an ounce worth fearing you’ll do it.

Death did not take him that night. She was too busy watching immortals and plotting to deal with a grandfather and his grandson.

Abraxas hoped against hope that Draco wasn’t going to ask him about sex. How could he explain such an act of perseverance and shifting power dynamics to a teenager? That would confuse him.

’’Grandfather, I am curious about...’’

’’Sex?’’ Abraxas screeched. ’’Is it sex?’’

Draco blinked rapidly and hurriedly explained that it was not sex.

Abraxas nodded just as quickly. They didn’t make eye-contact for the next couple of seconds. The fire roared in the fireplace, mocking them both for their reserved and awkward manner of being. Abraxas tapped an atonal melody out in disjointed and horrified pace with his fingers, tapping the wooden armrest of his armchair.

Draco coughed to get his attention. Abraxas wished he was deaf. But he turned nonetheless.

’’I heard father and mother speaking.’’

’’Divorce is a wonderful thing.’’

’’NOT ABOUT THAT!’’ Draco screamed.

’’Oh? They’re still living in denial then?’’ Abraxas whistled. ’’Well, that’s something.’’

’’My mother and father love each other!’’

Abraxas couldn’t fathom loving his wife. That never registered to him as an option. He and his wife just hated each other from the start. They’d slept together only a couple of times and that was only to make sure that Lucius would be born. Abraxas wished that he’d been the bigger man and not had sex at all with his wife. Lucius had turned out to be a major disappointment.

Draco was the only one that held any prospective future in his life. Abraxas smiled indulgently at his grandson and only heir (though, he would get the entire Malfoy fortune only if he took care of the peafowls – if he chose not to do this for whatever reason – Abraxas had decided to leave the entire fortune and property (and the Cayman accounts) to said peafowls)

’’I heard my so terribly in love parents talking about my arranged marriage.’’

’’Ooh.’’ Abraxas understood many things. ’’Yes, you’re fucked.’’

Draco squinted suspiciously. He looked as if he had many thoughts going through his head at rapid speed. It was quite painful to watch. ’’Who?’’

’’Astoria Greengrass I think.’’ Abraxas never lied to Draco. He hadn’t the time, really. If he had more time and didn’t have to wake up fearing that that day may be his last on this planet, for certain, Abraxas would lie his pants off and make Draco’s life a roller-coaster of facts and untruths – not particularly to make fun of him, although that would have been a benefit.

’’Ew.’’ Draco had to say. He wrinkled his nose. ’’She’s a child.’’

’’You’re _fourteen_.’’

’’I’m practically an adult.’’ Draco stomped his foot on the ground. Like a child. ’’I’m a **teen** ager. She’s _eleven_.’’

’’I heard she was turning twelve soon.’’

’’Wow.’’ Draco rolled his eyes. ’’What an improvement!’’

Abraxas chortled. ’’Back in my day when I found out that I had an arranged marriage planned out for me, I wasn’t allowed to complain.’’

’’Really?’’ Draco found that horrible. ’’Not even a little?’’

Abraxas shook his head. ’’Oh no.’’ He said. ’’I’d get cruciod if I did.’’

Draco balked.

Abraxas decided that lying was a la mode, which for those who were not aware meant that it was fashionable and the thing to do. He was bored waiting for Death, so until then he would forego his usual honesty with Draco (the only Malfoy he respected) in order to spice up his life a bit.

’’Your parents would use an unforgivable on you?!’’

Abraxas nodded. He placed a hand across his heart and said: ’’Yes, indeed. Those were different times.’’

’’You’re lying.’’ Draco proclaimed. He accusingly pointed. ’’I know you’re lying.’’

Abraxas hoped Draco was calling his bluff and wasn’t really able to tell. He did, after all, have Narcissa Malfoy as a mother and she was an occlumency prodigy. The one thing he inherited from his mother (aside from reasonable deduction). From Abraxas, Draco had inherited his dashing good looks. Lucius had just helped bring him into the world and didn’t deserve more credit than that, really.

’’I am most certainly not lying.’’ Abraxas said. And then all of those years of not lying to Draco finally paid off. ’’Have I ever lied to you?’’ More dramatically. ’’Would I lie to you?’’ And then, feigning hurt and devastation, Abraxas looked away to gaze through the window overlooking the Malfoy garden.

Draco deflated like a sad, dumb balloon.

’’What was your arranged marriage like then?’’

Abraxas Malfoy did not think that he would ever open this can of worms in front of his grandson, solely because his grandson did not need that negativity in his life – but the chap had asked. It was only fair Abraxas told him. He coughed to clear his throat and prepare his vocal cords for their greatest feat yet.

’’Are you certain you want to know?’’ Abraxas leaned closer to Draco and inquired speculatively. ’’Once you say ’yes’ there is no going back. So, I ask you to think very, very carefully if you want to know.’’

Draco didn’t give it as much thought as Abraxas would have liked. ’’Sure.’’ He said. ’’I’d like to know.’’

Abraxas cracked his knuckles. One by one. Once this ritual was finished he opened his mouth and said: ’’My wife and I-’’

\------------Three Hours Later--------------  
  
  
Draco was crying.

Abraxas did not cease speaking.

\-------------Four hours later--------------  
  
Narcissa had entered the room. Abraxas continued. She looked at her son and said: ’’This is what you get, Draco. Think of it as a learning experience not to pry.’’

Draco was going through a lot. Due to societal convention he was trapped and had no excuse to leave the conversation. He had asked, after all.

’’AND THEN, JUST WHEN I THOUGHT THAT WE HAD CLEARED UP THE DYNAMIC BETWEEN TOM AND I - MY WIFE GOES ON TO BE A TOTAL GRADE A B –’’

\---------------Seven Hours Later-------------  
  
Finally, Abraxas ceased speaking about the horror of his arranged marriage when Narcissa told them she needed the room for her tea party. ’’Take it outside.’’ She hissed.

Abraxas didn’t hiss back, because he was more of a peacock man himself (what with having 125 peafowls) – so he screeched back: ’’FINE!’’

Draco inched away from his grandfather, using this momentary lapse of concentration as his only chance to run away. He took a deep breath and jumped into a sprint towards his bedroom.

There... Draco fell on the bed. There he would be safe.

KNOCK

KNOCK

Draco muffled his cries with a pillow.

’’Dracooo, I didn’t have the time to tell you about how your grandmother and I dealt with the ongoing stress of the War! It’s quite a doozy of a story, really. Well it began on –’’

Draco realised that his grandfather didn’t mind speaking through the door. He searched for the nearest window to climb out of. Drastic times called for drastic measures.

’’Draco? Oh Dracoo?’’ Abraxas could hear the commotion. ’’Did you know that that room used to be mine back when I was unmarried? Oh the things Tom and I used to do there, really. Ohoho _ho_.’’

Draco wished to flee. He had climbed out of the window and onto the roof and hoped that the reason he didn’t hear Abraxas speaking anymore was because he’d lost interest (Ha, as if!), but when he took a couple of steps forward and readied to levitated himself down the roof he spotted that Abraxas Malfoy had apparated outside in the garden.

It was the fact that he was still talking that had Draco slip on one of the shaky roof shingles.

Unfortunately for Draco, Abraxas was there to rescue him.

He was still talking.

Oh Merlin **_HOW_**?

**Author's Note:**

> and that's how it's done kids


End file.
